What is a puppy mill?
A Puppy Mill is a place where people over-breed dogs by keeping two in a cage forever. These dogs suffer and usually die from lack of care. The puppies that are produced are sold to pet shops and such. Many of the dogs from puppy mills end up losing an eye or dying. The puppies produced sometimes are born deformed due to the large amount of breeding of the parents. Unfortuantly, there are still many many puppy mills out there getting away with animal abuse. If you want to help, please search google for a way to donate to this kind of cause.

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while! Anyway, I have some old pictures (well, a little old) of Macy, the little rat BEING a rat. Here they are:

Like them? I guess some are okay but others show her sneakiness (sp?).
Ok, on the one with her head in the cup, here’s what happened: I was sitting at my desk in my chair (desk shown) when I turned around for a moment, turned back around to find her head in my cup. Luckily it was just water. Anyways, I grabbed my camera and took that photo. Cute!

This week’s featured breed is the Great Pyrenees!
AKC Group: Working
An enormous yet elegant looking dog of imposing appearance .
Height: 26-32 inches (at shoulder).
Weight: 90-125 pounds .
The long, bushy tail is slightly curled. It is carried low and is never altered.
The triangular ears are fairly small and hang close to the head. They are never altered .
Double dewclaws are required on the hind fee.

This is a watchdog but it will also willingly pull carts or carry a pack .
Quiet with slow, deliberate movements.
Makes friends slowly and is very wary of strangers.
A one-family dog.

Long, thick and coarse. The double coat is able to withstand the elements .
Permissible colors are all white with some gray, tan or badger markings .
Tends to shed heavily in spring and summer.
High grooming required.

.::.Fun Extras.::.
In the spring and summer these dogs become mobile fur spreaders.
Shedding is excessive .
Not suggested as a breed for the first time dog owner.
They are strong, overly protective and can be aggressive.
Furthermore they are quite independent, a trait selectively bred for in this breed that works alone.

I’ve checked the Sherman Animal Shelter again and found that they have SEVERAL new dogs and cats for adoption. If you live anywhere around Sherman, well, maybe you could ask about forstering or, if you’re interested, adopting.

Ok, now I know I haven’t posted in a while but finally I’ve gotten to it 🙂
The computer was messing up for a couple of days so…

Anyways, this will be a short post, I’m sorry to say. But I’ve updated the Breed of the Week and the Adoption Page! Please check out the Adoption page – there’s a pup from the Sherman Animal Shelter there. So CUTE!

This week’s featured breed is the Great Dane!
AKC Group: Working
A combination of size, strength and dignity.
Height: 30-32 inches (at shoulder) This is minimum. Many are 35 or 36 inches tall.
Weight: 100-120 pounds. Again a minimum. Many are more than 150 pounds.
The natural tail is long and tapering with a slight curve at the end. It is carried low and is not altered.
The natural hanging ears are usually cropped to a tall tapering erect triangle in the US.

Gentle and loving.
Excellent with children.
An alert guard but not overly aggressive.
Moderately intelligent but highly stubborn.
Not easily trained.

The coat is short and smooth.
Permissible colors are brindle or fawn with dark face or mask. Also blue, black or harlequin (which is a white ground color with clearly defined, irregularly shaped black patches).
Requires minimal grooming.

.::.Fun Extras.::.
Because of the ear cropping, Dane puppies take a lot of care.
Puppies are especially clumsy. They are wild and rambunctious and therefore not suggested for homes where little children could get knocked over. Also not suggested as a pet for porcelain collectors.
Walt Disney’s Ugly Dachshund movie did much to popularize the breed.
Slow to mature.

Today was bath day at my house – the little dog’s least favorite day of the, well, when I get around to it 🙂

Kiara really enjoyed it, as you can see:

Little Angel and Cookie (not shown) however, did not.

I didn’t enjoy it too much either because, as some of you know, I straighten my hair and it curls very easily, if gotten wet or in humid air. I also usually have to change my clothes and everything because I have to get down and scrub the little dogs, but not this time! This time I used my brain – got out a little stool and plopped the dog on top! Still, hyuuck!

I took a few cute pictures of the rat. She was in the laundry room because we put her in there because she’s always trying to get out the door. We found her sleeping here later:

Aw… I’ll admit that this time she actually did something somewhat cute. (Don’t tell Kiara I said that)

When did you wash your dog last? Mmhmm… Yeah, well, maybe it’s time you do it – and I DON’T mean sending her to a groomer! Do it yourself! Buy a little dog shampoo and stick the furball in your shower. W.O.R.K.! “Weird Odor Roast King”… That didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. Really, I’m not good with words 🙂

My family and I were at the animal shelter just to ‘look around’. We were shown an adorable litter of soft sleeping shar-pei mixes. I couldn’t keep away and picked one up to show to mom. Eventually, she allowed me to have him. You know how dreams are weird, so on my way to the car he turned into a german shepherd mix, haha! But he was SOO cute!! Ok, so we were going home but had to make a stop at the grocery store. I couldn’t leave my little puppy in the car so I hid him in my coat in the store. (You have no idea how cute he was!!!) Right as I was going down an isle, (my adorable puppy, tight in my hands-as if I’d never let go) I woke up from my dream.

At first I was kind of confused because the dream had seemed SO real! When I found out my sweet puppy was gone, I was heart broken – seriously! I can easily fall deeply in love with a homeless puppy just by holding it for a second! In fact, if anyone ever handed me one that doesn’t have a home, I wouldn’t let go until I could have him! And if daddy made me give him back, I’d be incredibly rebellious – Haha! I’m such a brat which isn’t a fact I should be proud of 🙂
(Oh, the scary thing of it is, the puppies in my dream looked just like the puppies for adoption at the McKinney SPCA. Rottweiler-looking pup, german shepherd-looking pup, black pup, etc. Scary!-but cute -_^ )

WARNING: End video could be frightening to those who cannot read or are too young to understand the training!! If your child is with you, please explain that it is training and the people are not being hurt!

Ok, as a dog lover, you may know a thing or two about police dogs already. Well, I’m going to tell you a bit more about them – mostly the basics. (This is stuff I know because I wasn’t able to find anything good on google :))

‘Police dogs’ are specially trained dogs that do what they do for out protection. Most of the breeds trained for this service include german shepherds and belgian mallinois. The dogs go through a long period of training for reasons of the following: In case of a robbery, faced with an armed man/woman, crooks, etc. Most of the dogs will be trained to chase down the crook and hopefully catch him so the police can arrest him. That’s all I can think of right now…
You should not try and train another breed group such as hound dogs (basset hounds, etc.) or toy breeds (shih-tzus, etc.). Things can mess up terribly if you’re not careful and especially don’t know what you’re dealing with! Also with main police dogs (allot of working dogs) you have to be really careful with training! You need to make sure the dog is 100% complete training before sending the dog out to mess with another person who does not have a padded arm! These dogs are very serious with their work and love to do it, so you need to be respectful of their training and try not to say, “Give me your wallet!” around them. Heh heh…
These dogs are not naturally aggressive all the time! They’re trained to protect people, not to go around hurting people for fun. Allot of these dogs will have very friendly personalities when the situation isn’t threatening, but when there is a real threat, the dog can totally change and hurt someone if necessary! So, please be careful with police dogs.

I’ve found a neat video of police dog training on youtube that I enjoyed watching. It’s almost 10 minutes long but I hope you enjoy it!